A year ago, Ross Hutchins was beginning six months of gruelling chemotherapy in an attempt to overcome the cancer that had ravaged his body. On Wednesday he was beaming as he celebrated a remarkable return to winning ways on the professional tennis circuit alongside his doubles partner Colin Fleming at the Australian Open.

Now the 28-year-old doubles specialist, whose battle with Hodgkin's lymphoma became closely intertwined in the public mind with the story of his best friend Andy Murray's Wimbledon triumph, wants to be known for his tennis again and is targeting the world No 1 spot.

Throughout his treatment, Hutchins was thinking about his eventual return to the court. During 12 bouts of chemotherapy, with three different drugs pumped through his body for five hours, he asked doctors to concentrate on his left side, mindful of the effect on his hitting arm.

Hutchins had to build up his fitness from a standing start after being told he was in remission in July, but despite the oppressive heat in Melbourne that has already proved a talking point at the year's first Grand Slam, he and Fleming overcame Marinko Matosevic and Michal Przysiezny in three sets.

"I think we did well to dig out a win today. It was actually brilliant to be honest, and I'm loving the feeling right now," he said. "This is a fantastic tournament, and I'm just thrilled to be back involved and back able to hopefully try to win more matches."

Hutchins has called Murray's achievement in winning Wimbledon more significant than his battle to overcome cancer, a view that elicited laughter from his longtime friend. The pair first met when they played one another as juniors 17 years ago and have been friends ever since.

After receiving the news that he was in remission, Hutchins travelled to Murray's Miami training camp at the tail end of last year as he attempted to rebuild his fitness in preparation for his return to the tour.

After Murray won Queen's in June last year, three days after Hutchins' final chemotherapy session, Murray participated in lighthearted celebrity doubles match to raise money for cancer research and the Royal Marsden, where Hutchins was treated.

Murray also donated his Queen's prize money to the Rally Against Cancer event, raising a total of more than £250,000, and Hutchins said organising it with the tournament director at Queen's, Chris Kermode, had given him a focus during the long months of treatment.

Andy Murray and Ross Hutchins on practice day at Wimbledon last year. Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian

Hutchins was a British Davis Cup regular who had reached two Grand Slam doubles quarter-finals when he started suffering from crippling back pain in April 2012. It was eight months before it was eventually diagnosed as a symptom of cancer that had spread to his chest, spleen, back and legs. The news was delivered two days after Christmas in 2012.

While still undergoing treatment in May, he told the Guardian: "I look at it as a tennis match. The cancer is my opponent and I have to beat it. I think I've handled it well, and if I come through this it will be the thing I'm most proud of – how strong I've tried to stay."

Hutchins is convinced that the rigorous diet he had to follow while battling cancer, which he has maintained since, has made him stronger and healthier.

A popular figure on the tour, he paid tribute to the warm welcome he had received from his fellow professionals after his comeback, but stressed he wanted to be viewed as any other opponent.

"I have had a huge amount of support. But I don't want people to feel sorry for me. After we lost in the first week, [Jeremy] Chardy was saying to his coach he felt bad for beating me," he said. "I'm like, 'no, don't'. I'm a player and I want to be treated as a player. Today again, at the end of the match the guys shook hands and said it was great to see me back."

Fleming, whom Hutchins counts with Murray among his closest friends, promised on the day of the cancer diagnosis that they would one day team up again.

"When we won I felt a bit emotional," Fleming said. "It was a real release. It was very tough this time last year. And it was tough to play without Ross, but I never thought that he wouldn't come back. I don't know if that was maybe naive of me or what, but I never literally once thought we wouldn't team up again."